Well, it took about 6 months to get the permit for our boat dock but we finally got it. The builder who did our bulkhead (who did a great job BTW) has a bit of a break in his schedule and is actually going to do it this week.

We went ahead and submitted the drawing to the Corp of Engineers to include a boathouse so that we can add it on in the future without another permit.

The idea for now (since my father in law won't let me pay for any of it) is to just build the L head. Maybe in a couple years we will build the boathouse.

My question is, should we go ahead and build the 2' walkway in front of the proposed boat house and also the 4' walkway on the side to go ahead and create the slip?

If we didn't, I would just put mooring rods on the side where the slip would be and moor the boat there for long weekends or stops throughout the day.

I worry that it might be more difficult (for my wife especially) to pull the boat into a slip and tie it off rather than hooking up to the mooring rods.

We routinely use 3 sided slips and have had good success over the years. The advantage of the 3-sided over the 2-sided is you can center your boat without it ever touching the sides of the slip through the use of spring lines and lines that we leave permanently attached to the slip cleats, and no need for bumpers!. Two dock cleats up front on each slip finger and two dock cleats near the rear of the boat. When we pull in the lines are already attached to the dock cleats and at the proper length, all we do is clip the bow off to a clip that is centered on a line that is attached to both forward dock cleats (it lies across the slip and hangs in the water a bit when not in use) and then attach the rear to lines to dock lines which we leave attached to the rear dock cleats, just slip the line loops through your boat cleats. We then tie off a spring line to the tower or something else of your choosing to keep the boat from moving forward and aft preventing the bow from bumping into the slip.

Everyone at our club uses this technique and has had great success, even on rough weather days, The only thing you'll have to figure out is how to attach your lines so that it doesn't interfere with your cover.

Having said all that, I recommend you go the 3-sided route from the start. Go luck and nice dock plans.

I don't have much input on your design however I would say build out everything you can now. If you have the permit to build this I would have all of the foundation done so when you want the boat house you don't run into issues with the Corp. They have been doing a study on my lake for the last 10 years so. The study is on the effect dock have on the lake. So changes that affect the surface area of the water have been prohibited even those previously permitted. If you have all the walkways from the start you should be fine when adding the boat house on top of it later on.

For our application which may be different than your's. Most covered slips here are 10" wide, we made our's 11' and it worked out better. I'm not sure I would go 12' here. We have cable lifts and the 11' wide was to help clear the cables and board racks coming into the slip. 12' wide and it starts getting a little far from the edge of the slip to the boat if it's centered. Hard to load gear, kids and older peeps. That may not be an issue for you. The other thing I would mention is the length of your slip is 23'. Our's is 29' and I wish it was 3-4' longer to get the transom more under the roof.

TJ who is building it? Trey? I would just build the L-head in now and drive mooring poles in later if necessary. Actually we are about to jet some poles in to add to our deck here in a few months as soon as we are done with the house. These things can get costly fast. Have you seen ours on the river?

TJ who is building it? Trey? I would just build the L-head in now and drive mooring poles in later if necessary. Actually we are about to jet some poles in to add to our deck here in a few months as soon as we are done with the house. These things can get costly fast. Have you seen ours on the river?

Yes. Trey is building it. They started yesterday. He's using composite pilings and rough cut deck boards with all of the edges routered, which I like. We are going ahead with the slip now and will eventually just have to drive new pilings for the boat house.

We have only been on the river twice this year and haven't ridden down your way yet but if the weather holds out this Sunday we probably will.

What's funny is that the Corp originally came back and said that the end of the dock could be no farther than xxx feet from the center of the river. Whatever that measurement was (I forget) would have put it about 2' inland!

The river starts to get pretty narrow where we are so based on existing docks, they would only let us go 25' out. We also had to get a Dr. note to get the 6' walk way approved.

Thanks Jason! We went down today and the slip was already done so 12' it is. I'd rather have it a little too wide than too narrow so I'm cool with it.

They haven't built the 2' walkway and V in the front of the slip yet. I'm wondering if it makes sense to just get rid of the walkway or cut it way back so that the slip can be a little longer. It's not very deep there so I'm not sure it's really very usable space though.

Here are some pics. It just finished raining so the water was really dirty.

You can always move the boat lift over once it is done if it is too wide. We opted out of our walkway. The price started to get really high and that is why we did the top deck and roof and railings ourselves Plus you can go back and install it later if you want with hangers you can buy at McCoy's at 15% of the price.

Looks like I found some neighbors! What's up guys. I've got a place on the San Bernard and just finished getting permitted for a boat dock/house as well. My plans are similar to these.( my L head is 20 x 10) I'm planning on having my contractor go ahead and do my pier for now and then do the piers for the boat lift and deck later when we are using the place more often. We are just finishing off the inside of our metal building with living quarters. Maybe we can hook up and do some riding.

@Jason. I believe I know exactly where your place is. I looked at your lot back in 08. I ended up buying a lot a little further up the river. A few months ago or so I was riding my sea doo and I noticed a big boat house being built and a man on a backhoe fixing the bulkhead. So I stopped and talked to him since I was about to begin the same project as well. Real nice older guy( I assume your dad) told me to stop by some time and he would hook me up with some of the contracters y'all used. Long story short we are just finishing our place out on the inside and will hopefully be able to use the place a lot more often. Small world!